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Committee hears arguments in CFACT case

The Associated Students of Madison Student Judiciary held a hearing for the Student Services Finance Committee members charged for viewpoint-neutrality violations against the Collegians for a Constructive Tomorrow.

CFACT accused representatives Lorenzo Edwards Jr., Barbara Kiernoziak, Tim Schultz, Kellie Sanders and Jennifer Knox of making budget decisions based on personal opinions about the organization. Under ASM bylaws and SSFC protocol, members are disallowed from bringing their own personal beliefs into consideration when making budget decisions. Both sides pleaded their cases late in the afternoon, but after four hours of statements and arguments, the judiciary did not reach a decision as of press time.

"We cannot mistake the gravity of these situations," CFACT senior member Pete McCabe said. "CFACT is assured that these members violated viewpoint-neutrality."

SSFC Chair Rachelle Stone said committee members voted to minimally fund the budget because of vague spending descriptions in the organization's budget proposal.

"The majority of the committee voted 'nay' not because of personal vendettas," she said.

But McCabe accused Schultz of making budget decisions based solely on the budget proposal's percentage increase from last year.

"He had a negative opinion before the presentation," McCabe said. "It creates a bigoted stigma against smaller organizations."

Schultz said he considered CFACT's previous budget requests, but doing so was within the rights of committee members.

"I ask a lot of hard questions to every group," he said. "I'm just being consistent."

Schultz added the organization's descriptions for programming were vague and influenced his decision on its budget.

McCabe charged Kellie Sanders with violating viewpoint-neutrality policy after voting to call to question the entire budget after repeatedly abstaining from any other votes regarding CFACT's budget.

He said Sanders' previous membership in the Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group — an organization that holds views contrary to CFACT — affected her actions regarding the budget.

"She had that one moment where she lacked common sense," he said. "That bias overtook her good abstentions."

CFACT charged representatives Knox and Edwards Jr. for calling to question and minimum-funding the budget before allowing sufficient time for debate.

SSFC representative Zach Frey testified against his colleagues and said the two members usually allow for extended debate on budgets but did not motion to discuss the CFACT budget further before making their decisions.

"It's simply unacceptable to the system," McCabe said. "That's unacceptable on each and every account."

Knox said her decision was consistent with previous budget decisions and voted to minimum-fund the organization based on lack of information.

"I wanted to reduce the budget," she said, "but I didn't have enough information to make an educated cut."

McCabe accused representative Barbara Kiernoziak of blatantly violating viewpoint-neutrality policy in her decorum during the debate and her misinterpretations of the budget requests.

"She went into the meeting and lied," he said. "That is inexcusable and a breach of trust of the process."

Kiernoziak, who was not present at the hearing, was found guilty last year by CFACT for non-malicious viewpoint-neutrality violations.

At the hearing, SSFC member Chrissie Harbin testified and said the decision to minimum-fund the group was due to the budget proposal's lack of clarity.

"This budget, in my opinion, lacked a lot of planning," she said. "It wasn't sufficiently justified."

In CFACT's closing argument, McCabe said the organization needed an impartial hearing of its budget.

"CFACT must be given a fair trial without these bigoted opinions," he said. "These members made gross viewpoint-neutrality violations."